As Dry Leaves That Before A Wild Hurricane Fly
by BootstrapBoula
Summary: Christmas holidays of year 6. Two very different people, two very different situations, two very different outlooks on life. Yet, are they somehow linked? Do they have more in common than anyone would have thought? 1st 2 chaps written before HBP came out
1. Snug in Their Beds: Draco

First and foremost, I kind ofwent off on tangents while writing the customarydisclaimery/author's note-ypart of this, so if you're not in the mood to read my ramblings, just skip ahead to the parts in bold that are actually relevant.

Disclaimer: I am of course, the one and only J.K. Rowling and I have taken time out of my extremely busy schedual to come on a website and write fan fiction instead of just writing it in my books like any normal multi-millionaire author would do...

I'm lying, of course I'm _not_, and could never hope to be the glorious Joanne (or is it Joanna, I really _should_ know, shouldn't I?) Rowling. All the characters in the story to come belong soley to her, and I guess the various publishing companies, toy makers, and Warner Brothers? I dunno, I have no idea how these things work. At any rate, this disclaimer's running too long, I'm going to cut myself o-

Author's Note: So, I might as well explain my insperation and how this story's gonna run, and all that jazz. Well, as you know from the summary, this story takes place at Christmas. I don't know why I decided todo it like that,since I started writing it last summer and can't remember that far back, but I guess I was just in a Christmas mood shrugs Oh, and I hope I made Draco and Hermione in character enough. I think Idid pretty well but I'd really like your opinions on that.Important note:

**The first few chapters of this story go in pairs, though they themselves are individual chapters. Ie. chapters one and two go together, three and four go together, five and six go together, and seven and eight go together. After that, they will converge.Also, themain charactershifts from chapter to chapter,and is named in the title.**

So, enjoy chapters one and two:D

**Snug in Their Beds**

Draco

Draco had always hated Christmas. Ever since he could remember, it had onlybrought pain, anger, jealousy, discomfort, and pretty much every other bad emotion known to man. So as he lay awake in his room, at 4:00 am on Christmas morning, he dreaded the time his alarm clock would go off.

He had barely slept that night. He almost never slept soundly anymore though. He either stayed up at night worried that his father would suddenly appear, or any othermember of You-Know…He-Who-Must…The Dark Lo-, 'Ah fuck it, VOLDEMORT'S' he thought. 'Any other member of Voldemort's little gang'. And if he finally did drift off to sleep, it was almost always shrouded with nightmares. The things Draco had learned from his father, the stories he had heard, it was no wonder the boy found his dreams haunted with blood and gore.

He knew of course that others must have it worse, those who had witnessed Voldemort's regime themselves, those effected everyday by losses of loved ones, and those who are involved directly in the Second War now. But Draco refused to think about those people. Perhaps it was because he knew that a large number of his own family was responsible for that pain, for those nightmares, for that fear. And Draco refused to admit that he was in any way connected to their misery. Or perhaps, it was because he wanted to be special. He wanted to be the one plagued with the most misery. He wanted people to pity him. 'No!' He thought immediately after his last reflection, 'Malfoys don't want anyone's pity!'.

"Yeah, Malfoys, right," he spoke out loud and rolled his eyes.

He turned over in bed and quickly looked for a change of topic. He glimpsed his Prefects Badge, shining brightly in the reflection of the full moon, laying on his nightstand. Immediately he directed his thoughts to Hogwarts. Unfortunately, these thoughts didn't bring much comfort to him either.

He thought of his "best friends", Crabbe and Goyle. How everyone thought of them as his lackeys or body guards. Perhaps they were, but he didn't truly dislike them. He feared they disliked him though. Not that he blamed them, everyone seemed to hate him now-a-days. Draco sighed at this thought. Ever since he had gotten back to Hogwarts in September, his life there had been a living hell. Everyone assumed that since Lucius was a sadistic son of a bitch who lived to serve the Dark Lord, Draco was too. He never denied these accusations, figuring there'd be no point.

"They'd think I was lying anyways, trying to get on Dumbledore's and Potter's good side to find out some bloody information or something" he said bitterly into his green silken pillow.

'Besides, mustn't ruin the Malfoy reputation in front of the children of Death Eaters' he thought in an imitation of his mother's voice.

Truly, Draco was beginning to loath Hogwarts as much as he once loathed his home. Things were better here, now that his father was gone, but at Hogwarts…let's just say he barely slept there as well. He's never trusted his roommates, especially Theodore, 'Ha, Teddy,' he thought, laughing to himself. Nott hated when he called him that, just as he hated it when Teddy called him Drakey. Theodore was not actually such a bad guy when compared to the bloody idiots Crabbe and Goyle, at least he could carry on an intelligent conversation with him. But he wouldn't trust Nott if his life depended on it. Draco laughed at the irony of this statement: Trusting Nott would most likely bring about the end of his life.

Crabbe and Goyle, they weren't to be trusted either. Ever since their fathers had been put in Azkaban, they had been trying to convince him to help break them out, which Draco knew was suicide. He also never knew when they'd suddenly get the crazy idea to become Death Eaters, but he knew that when they finally did, Draco would either have to talk them out of it, or join them. Neither of which he was very willing to do, and he wasn't quite sure which one he'd choose to do anyways.

Then there was his other roommate, Blaise. Draco trusted Blaise more than anyone at Hogwarts…with the possible exception on Professor Snape. Zabini was practically the only one in the Slytherin house who's parents weren't supporters of Lord Voldemort. Draco really envied that. But he also pitied his friend. He pitied him because none of the Slytherins really trusted Blaise. They never openly spoke around him, for fear that he was a spy for Dumbledore or something. Draco was of course guilty of this too, and rarely spoke to Blaise, but he still trusted him to never try to kill or humiliate him, which was refreshing.

Draco sighed again. Thinking about Hogwarts was turning out to be just as depressing as thinking about his family. He couldn't wait to leave that place. But after he left, then what? He honestly didn't know. He'd hate to leave his mother all alone in this house, fearing her husband and sister's possible return. Maybe she'd move away to France or somewhere, where they wouldn't find her, then Draco wouldn't feel guilty about leaving her behind. Because Draco had seriously been contemplating leaving the whole magical world lately.

Everyone here hated him, judged him, feared him even. But in the muggle world, he was no-one, he could easily slip under the radar and live his life without worry. But then, that scared him. Having to make his own living, and re-gain the respect he had once had as a Malfoy. Draco didn't know which was worse: being feared, or being afraid. It didn't really matter anyways, 'I've still got to deal with another year of this hell anyways. 'Cause there's no way I'm quitting school', he admitted defeat.

His thoughts lasted not much longer than this, until he finally drifted off to a dreamless sleep. Dreamless only because he never got past the NREM stage of sleep. He was thankful for this the next morning as his 16th century antique alarm clock woke him up, because though he was tired, his head was at least free of graphic images.

He woke up to find the fireplace in his room already lit, thank God for his house elf Dicey. He got gracefully out of bed, left his green silk sheets in a big heap on the bed, and slowly made his way to his private bathroom to get ready.

"Uh, this is gonna be a long day," He muttered.

A/N: I _love_ reviews hint hint nudge nudge


	2. Snug in Their Beds: Hermione

Disclaimer: Alas, I still do not own anything having to do with Harry Potter.And I forgot to put this last time, but I do not own the title of my story or any of the chapter titles either, they are from that story that I believe is called "The Night Before Christmas". However, there are some characters and places...er, place, mentioned in this chapter that I did in fact create:)

**Snug in Their Beds**

Hermione

Hermione had always loved Christmas. Ever since she could remember, it had brought happiness, joy, laughter, comfort, and pretty much every other good emotion she could think of. So as she lay awake in her room, at 4:00 am on Christmas morning, she couldn't wait for the time her alarm clock would go off.

She had barely slept that night. She almost never slept on Christmas morning. The anticipation for her favourite holiday made it very difficult for her to concentrate on sleep. Even now, as a teenager, she still couldn't wait for 7:00 when she'd run downstairs and find the presents underneath the tree. 'Pfft, way to sound greedy Granger' she thought to herself. 'Well I can't help it!' she argued with herself, 'Besides, it's not like I expect huge million pound gifts, just the gifts I usually get.'

Her mother and father usually bought her about four presents. When she was younger, it had been a couple of toys, and a couple of books. Now that she was older, it was usually a couple of books as usual, a piece of clothing, and a movie or C.D. that she was only able to enjoy at home, in the muggle world. She greatly missed technology sometimes while at Hogwarts. Harry did as well, but not as much as she did. She supposed it was because he hadn't been able to enjoy it as much as she had during childhood. She felt horribly for him, having to spend 11 years with the Dursleys. But at least now he was at the Burrow, enjoying Christmas with the Weasleys. As much as Hermione loved that family, and spending time with them, she was happy to be back in her home, in her bed.

She started to look around her room. The first thing that caught her eye was her Prefect Badge, shining brightly in the reflection of the full moon, laying on her desk. She smiled to herself. Ever since she had been a little girl, she had wanted to be a Prefect. She wondered if any one else had had that ambition.

"Hmph, Malfoy probably did," she spoke out loud and rolled her eyes.

Ron most likely had too, what with Percy and Bill being Prefects. Zacharias definitely did. She didn't really know the guy well, but his attitude was very similar to Draco's. She quickly ceased this train of thought, it was depressing her to think about people she had no particular liking for…well not Ron, she liked Ron. 'Noooo Hermione, bad turn of thought, derail the train! Derail the train!' she laughed to herself at this little joke. Her laughter soon becoming louder, so that she had to stifle it in her pillow. 'Wow, I must be tired to laugh at something that stupid,' she though.

When her laughter died down, she looked down at her pillow. It was soft and white with unicorns and rainbows on it. She had had it since she was a little girl. Ironically, when she had first slept on that pillow case, she had thought unicorns existed. Then later on, up until the age of 11, she had thought herself stupid for thinking something so ridiculous. But now, as she looked at the ancient linen, she realized that her 5 year old self had been right after all.

As interesting as her old sheets were, she greatly preferred her normal ones, that were currently in the wash. They were tie-dyed and much more fitting to her age. Her friends had always teased her when they came over on laundry day, and her bed was made with rainbow and unicorn sheets. Not cruel teasing, like she'd expect from Malfoy, but friendly teasing like Harry would give. She wasn't quite sure what Ron would say…

All of this made her think of her old elementary school friends. She didn't have many of them, she had never been very popular with her fellow students. Which was something that had followed her to Hogwarts. But at least at Hogwarts, she was far less hated. If nothing else, this was a comfort.

Mary and Sammy and been her best friends at the muggle school she had attended, St. Archibald Academy. This had left her with the unfortunate nickname "Hermy", to match her friends. Thank goodness Harry and Ron had never called her that. Not only for embarrassment's sake, but for the sake of sharing something with Mary and Sammy that she didn't share with her two wizard companions. It had come as a great shock when Grawp had called her Hermy though. She wondered briefly if the giant practiced Occlumency, but laughed this thought away quickly.

She had missed her two old friends greatly when she had first started at Hogwarts. But as time went on, she had thought about them less and less, and had settled into her new life as a witch with Ron and Harry. Her four friends were actually very different from each other. Mary and Sammy were almost exactly like Hermione, and she was sure that if either of them had gotten the Hogwarts letter and been sent there instead of her, Harry and Ron would have befriended them in her absence.

She was glad of course that she was the witch among her two old friends, and would never dream of changing that. But she still often greatly missed the muggle world, and her girlfriends. Harry and Ron were great and all, but they were boys. Boys can never truly understand everything a girl thinks and feels. Ginny and her had become closer over the years, and Hermione was very grateful for that. Even Lavender and Parvarti surprisingly offered some "girl talk" time whenever needed, but it still wasn't entirely the same as having friends she can tell absolutely everything to.

She sometimes, only sometimes, only once a month or so, wished that she had not accepted the offer to study magic, and stayed in London. What with all the dangerous adventured that took place at Hogwarts, it was a wonder she was still alive. 'But there's no way I'm quitting school', she thought. Because she had to admit, Hogwarts was more of a home than a school, something St. Archibald's had never been.

Her thoughts lasted not much longer than this, until she finally drifted off to a sleep filled with wonderful dreams about Christmas, Hogwarts, the Academy, and visions of sugarplums. She was perturbed the next morning as her clock radio woke her up to a song by some American rapper she didn't particularly like. She quickly changed the station and gave a big yawn.

Hermione quickly forgot about her tiredness though as she realized it was Christmas morning! She quickly got out of bed, and almost fell to the floor because her sheets had tangled in her feet. She giggled as she steadied herself using her bed for support, and quickly made her bed. She then skipped to the bathroom that separated her room andthe guest room, to get ready.

"This is gonna be a great day!" she practically sang.

A/N: I still love reviews:P


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